


Drowning in your Eyes

by Adsdragonlover



Category: The Witcher (TV), Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types
Genre: Drowners - Freeform, Kaer Morhen, Love Confessions, M/M, Sad, he admits that they’re friends, post episode 6
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-27
Updated: 2020-03-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:33:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23344792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adsdragonlover/pseuds/Adsdragonlover
Summary: Geralt heard a call for help from the riverbank. And the person it is is someone he never thought he’d see again.
Relationships: Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia/Jaskier | Dandelion
Comments: 22
Kudos: 266





	Drowning in your Eyes

He’s on the road when he hears it. A strangled cry for help coming from the riverbank. It’s a decent distance away, the only reason he heard it is due to his Witcher mutations. He almost ignores it. It’s far away, and Geralt doesn’t do charity work. Not anymore. But something about that voice keeps him from continuing on his way. He can’t quite put his finger on what or why, but something in him has him turning Roach and galloping towards the sound. 

Drowners. Obviously. He scowls as he approaches, unsheathing his silver sword from its scabbard on his back and leaping from Roach into battle. The tangy, iron-y smell of blood hangs thick in the air, and the drowners are going ravenous over the man. There’s another scent, underneath the blood, something almost painfully familiar, but Geralt pays it no mind, focusing instead on the veritable  _ pack  _ of drowners that were attempting to make this man their next meal. And judging by the almost overwhelming smell of blood, they’d nearly succeeded. 

Geralt slices them down with only minor difficulty. Drowners are usually mere inconveniences, but they severely outnumber him. Despite this, Geralt still succeeds in slaying every last one of them, until the riverbank is full of drowner remains. He has minor wounds he needs to tend to, and judging by the smell this man is too far gone to save when- “Geralt?”

The voice is painfully familiar and as Geralt whips around to face the man he’d just saved, the smell from earlier hits him. Cedarwood. Cedarwood, chamomile, and rose. “Jaskier.” He rasps, looking at the bard. 

Jaskier smiles weakly up at him. “Hi. Bet you weren’t-“ he coughs, blood coming up while he does it, and suddenly Geralt is back to the time Jaskier had nearly died, meeting Yennefer, saving them both. “Bet you weren’t expecting this, huh?” And that’s when the gravity of the situation hits him.

Jaskier looks  _ bad. Really _ bad. He’s got three large gashes down his torso, and Geralt’s surprised his guts aren’t falling out of his body with how deep they are. 

He falls to his knees beside the bard, quickly putting pressure on the wound that looks the worst and ignoring the rational part of his brain that whispers  _ It’s no use.  _ “Jaskier.” He says. “Jaskier, you have to hold on.” He whistles for Roach, who approaches rapidly. 

Jaskier chuckles weakly, “Careful Geralt. You almost sound like you  _ care.” _

That hurts, but he knows he deserves it. “Of course I care, you idiot.” He hisses, removing his hands which are now covered in blood,  _ Oh gods they’re covered in  _ Jaskier’s  _ blood,  _ to rifle desperately through Roach’s saddlebags for a potion,  _ anything  _ to fix this. 

“I- I thought you hated me.” Jaskier says. “At least this way you’ll get your wish, I’ll be taken permanently off your hands.” He chuckles, coughing up more blood, and Geralt is panicking. 

“I don’t hate you and I certainly don’t want you  _ dead! _ ” He says, realizing with a sinking stomach that there are no potions left in Roach’s saddlebags. “Look, Jaskier, I’m sorry. Okay? I fucked up. I didn’t mean it. I didn’t mean  _ anything  _ I said to you on that mountain. It wasn’t your fault. None of it was your fault. And I never should have taken my frustration out on you. Not on my only fr- not on my best friend.” He feels tears prickling behind his eyes, and that  _ really  _ scares him. He hasn’t cried in  _ years.  _ “Please Jaskier, just hold on okay? You’re gonna make it, just hold on.”

“Geralt.” Jaskier says. “Geralt, it’s okay.” He smiles softly. “It was never your job to save me anyway.” He says quietly, covering Geralt’s hand with one of his own. 

“You can’t die.” Geralt says. 

“Everyone has to at some point.“

“Jaskier, I love you.”

Jaskier smiles up at him, reaching a hand up to cup his face. “Good.” He says. “Because I-“ and then his hand goes limp and falls from his face and onto the muddy riverbank. His eyes close but he’s still smiling, still breathing. 

“Jaskier?” Geralt asks, desperate. “Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck. Jaskier.” He’s still breathing. And then he isn’t.

* * *

Julian Alfred Pankratz, known to most as “Jaskier”, dies with a smile in his face and the words “I love you” unspoken on his lips.

* * *

Geralt burns his body that night, because the only thing that hurts more than losing Jaskier is having him coming back to life as a monster, and having to lose him again. He collects his ashes in a small vial that he threads around his neck so it lays over his heart, and buries his bones at Kaer Morhen. Jaskier’s lute, which somehow escaped the drowners unscathed, hangs in his room there.

* * *

He visits his grave at least three times a year, the anniversary of the day they met, the bard’s birthday, and the anniversary of the day he died. He always leaves roses, dandelions, and buttercups at his grave when he visits. “I’m so sorry, Jaskier.” He says the last time he visits, as age has withered him and his reflexes have slowed. “You deserved a better goodbye.” As he stands up from his position on his knees in front of the gravestone he adds. “But at least I’ll be with you soon.”

* * *

  
When Geralt Of Rivia dies, he’s brought back to Kaer Morhen, where he is buried next to Jaskier. And the two of them are finally reunited.

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry not sorry? Leave a comment and a kudo please. I live on that shit.


End file.
